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Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
15
During
the
insurrection
in
the
Northern
Counties
in
the
reign
of
Henry
VIII.,
the
rebel
leaders,
in
order
to
insure
a
rapid
transmission
of
orders,
established
regular
posts
from
Hull
to
York,
York
to
Durham,
and
Durham
to
Newcastle.[5]
The
council
of
Edward
VI.
finding
that
a
great
many
irregularities
existed
in
the
hire
of
post-horses,
had
an
Act
passed
(2
&
3
Edward
VI.
c.
3)
fixing
the
charge
at
a
penny
per
mile
for
all
horses
so
impressed.
Up
to
the
end
of
the
reign
of
Queen
Elizabeth,
no
further
improvements
seem
to
have
been
made,
although
her
council
took
steps
to
make
the
existing
service
as
efficient
as
possible,
by
reforming
some
abuses
which
had
crept
into
it
during
Queen
Mary's
reign.
Before
Elizabeth's
death,
the
expenses
of
the
post
were
reduced
to
rather
less
than
5,000l.
per
annum.
Before
the
reduction,
the
sum
charged
for
conveying
Her
Majesty's
despatches
from
stage
to
stage
was
enormous.
Up
to
the
thirty-first
year
of
her
reign,
a
rate
of
20d.
a
letter
was
levied
by
the
proprietors
of
the
post-horses,
for
every
post
travelled
over.
The
council
resolved
to
pay
the
proprietors
3s.
a
day
for
the
service,
irrespective
of
the
distance
travelled.
The
payment
was
reduced
to
2s.
and
ultimately
to
18d.
a
day.
Much
information
respecting
the
service--the
different
stages,
the
routes
taken
at
this
early
period,
&c.
&c.
has
been
found
in
old
records
of
the
"Master
of
the
Postes,"
exhumed
some
twenty
years
ago
from
the
vaults
of
Somerset
House.
This
functionary,
it
would
appear,
paid
all
current
expenses
appertaining
to
his
department,
"the
wages
and
entertainment
of
the
ordinary
posts,"
and
he
was
reimbursed
in
full
under
the
grant
"for
conveyance
of
Her
Highness's
letters
and
her
Council's."
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